We have designed and used a versatile UV resonance Raman spectrometer for quantitative analysis of cancerous in human colon tissues. The goal is to identify and quantify various chemicals in normal and diseased tissues and correlate with pathology. We have examined normal, adenomatous polyps and adenocarcinoma samples from six patients using 251 nm laser excitation. Spectra exhibit marked differences and we attribute these to increased nucleic acid to protein content in precancer and cancerous tissues compared to normal tissues. We are currently verifying these results by studying using an another laser excitation at 240 nm and using microspectroscopy.